A mysterious female assassin terrorizes the X-Mansion, knocking out the X-Men one by one. Wolverine finds out that it is his clone, created by the Dr. Deborah Risman and raised without love by HYDRA, and she wants to kill him because she holds him responsible for her miserable life. Wolverine and X-23, as she is called, square off in a battle that Wolverine does not want to win.
Tropes included:
- Alone Among Families: As part of X-23's training, she was forced to hang out by herself in populated urban areas to learn how to blend with the crowds. In the accompanying montage, she is shown sitting completely alone on a bench at a park, angrily observing the other children playing with their parents.
- Antagonistic Offspring: As far as X-23 is concerned, none of this would've happened to her if not for Wolverine, so she goes after him.
- Berserk Button: Logan hates being referred to as "Weapon X", which Risman learns. She later backtracks after she almost calls him that again.
- Berserker Tears: X-23 has these during her fight with Wolverine.
- Divide and Conquer: After studying the various X-Men and New Mutants, she picks them off one at a time and often makes use of vantage points. By the time Cyclops and Berserker notice anything, most of the mansion's other occupants have already been taken out.
- Flashback: A lengthy one narrated by Risman, recapping X-23's development and the experiment. X-23 also experiences flashes of her upbringing while observing various X-Men (e.g. seeing Nightcrawler and Kitty goofing causes her to think back to be locked up alone in a White Void Room).
- Friend to All Children: Wolverine is disgusted at Risman when he finds out that a child was put through the same experiment that he was.
- Just a Kid: Wolverine's horrified when he finds out X-23 was put through the Weapon X program.Wolverine: ENOUGH! She's a child, not a weapon! How do you sleep at night?Risman (completely ashamed): I don't.
- Later, X-23 blows up at Wolverine when he states this trope.X-23: I AM NOT A CHILD!
- Later, X-23 blows up at Wolverine when he states this trope.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Wolverine appeals to X-23, saying no one understands what she's been through better than him.
- White Void Room: X-23 was kept locked in one when not being experimented on or trained.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: X-23 gets the drop on Xavier when he finds her crying in Logan's room and tries to help her. Of course, considering how emotionally unstable she is, the crying may've actually been real.
